Paper carriage for accounting machines



April 22, w ANDERSQN V PAPER CARRIAGE FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 50, 1958 2 SheetS -Sheet l INVENTOR WALTER A. ANDERSON April 22, :ff w. A. ANDERSON 2,239,640

' tuna CARRIAGE ,FOR Accoumnw MACHINES v Filed 080.30, 1958. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WALTER A. ANDERSON KRNEY Patented PAPER. CARRIAGE FOR ACCOUNTING Walter A; Anderson, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., acorpration of Delaware v Application December 30,1938, Serial Nor 358,428 a 3 Claims.

This invention relates to paper carriages for accounting machines, and more particularly to means for facilitating carbon printing on checks, short forms and the like.

In printing checks onaccounting machines, the general practice is to have the original printing on the check and a carb en printing on the ledger record. However, as the ledger sheet, during its life',.is*s'ubject to a large'amount of handling, the

carbon printing thereon often becomes so gsmearedl'asj to be illegible. ,It has therefore been found, desirable tofreverse the printing; that is,

to have? the original printing ,on. the ledger sheet andithecarbon printing, on. the check. This reworks to an :advantageyas the check reoei'ves relatively little handling between the time itis'printed and the time it is'cancelled.

.InQadapting the carriageto accommodate reversal in printing procedure, the problem arises of providing a means for stopping the ,downward f insertion of the check around the platen, so that' I the writing line of the check is incorrect align-. f ment with the printing line of the platen.

Further, since the accounting machine is at times used for worknot involving the printing of checks, ity is desirable that the stop means above-mentioned, be arranged to'be moved to an ineffective position so asto makepossible the insertion and adjustment of relatively longer-forms.

It is an object of this invention,-therefo re, to provide a means for holding a sheet or strip of carbon paper in such manner that a ledger or record sheet may be inserted downwardly in front thereof and a check or the like may. be readily inserted in back thereof from in front of the platen.

Another object is to provide such a carbon pa- '-per holding means that may be readily and easily adjusted to present a fresh writing line of carbon to the printing line of the platenwhen a formerly used line on the carbon has become worn.

Another object is to provide a simple and effective stop movable to. one positionwhere it limits the insertion of a check or short form and thereby allocates it in correct printing alignment with respect to the platen, and'to another position where it is ineffective and out of the path of the longer forms used in other types of accounting; I

With these and incidental objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, the essential elements of which are set forth in appended claims, and a preferred embodiment of which is hereinafter described with reference to the drawings which accompany and form part of the specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carriage equipped with the present invention,

Figure 2 is a right side elevation showing the improved carbon paper holding means and the movable check stopin effective position, and

Figure 3 is a'detall right Side view showing the check stop moved to ineffective position.

' The invention is illustrated in connection with the type of carriage used on the machine disclosed in Patent No. 2,194,270,1ssued toOscarJ. Sundstrandon March 19, 1,940,1and ma'y be readily adapted to the type ofcarriage disclosed in 'U. S. Patent No. 2,060,954, issued 1, to Oscar J.

. Sundstrand on November 17, 1936, or in U. S. Patent No. 2,185,424., issued to Walter A. Anderson on *Januaryl, 1940, or on that disclosed in U. .8. application of Walter A. Anderson, Serial -No.' 92,164, flled July 23, 1936.

carriage in g neral I Referring to Figure 1', the carriage is mounted for movementalo'ng a track I. As the carriage moves from right to left, it is stopped in'various columnar positions so that type bars (not shown) on the accounting {machine may print on the work forms fed around a platen 2. The mechanism for tabulating the carriage from'column to column and for returning it to its initial position is disclosed in Patent No. 2,194,270. The carriage is adapted to accommodate both rear fed paper and front fed paper. In the illustration,

only front fed paper such as a ledger sheet 3 and a check such as l is shown. The platen may be rotated manually by knobs i secured to each end of the platen shaft 6, and may be rotated auto matically during operations of the machine by suitable feed pawl mechanism (not shown) cooperating with teeth on a ratchet wheel I secured to shaft 6 This mechanism is disclosed ent No. 2,060,954.

Mechanism for guiding ond holding front fed paper in Patsuch as l6 (Figure 2), secured in the carriage side walls. In operation, this bail structure is swung forwardly from what is known as the closed positionxshown in Figure 1 to what is known as the open position shown in Figure 2, the paper then inserted, and the bail swung back to the position shown in Figure 1.

After the paper is passed downwardly through the chutes, it is directed under the platen, first by the upper portion .of a plate ll (Figure 2) secured to the frame of the accounting machine. Plate l1 deflects the paper toward a guide which takes the form of a lip l3 secured on a. square rod l3 pivoted in the carriage side walls. Movement of the bail to closed position causes the lip to pivot upwardly from the position shown in Figure 2 to a position quite close to the platen, in the manner disclosed in Patent No. 2,185,424. This serves to bend the paper around the platen from a position below the printing point. Pressure rolls 20 are provided to hold the paper firmly against the platen above the printing point.

Mechanism for holding and adjusting carbon P p Mechanism is provided to hold a sheet or strip of carbon paper 2| along its upper edge, so that its lower end may pass freely around and under the platen in back of ledger sheet 3. This means comprises a pair of forwardly extending arms 22 pivoted on a rod 24" (Figure 2) extending between and secured to the carriage side walls. The rear ends of arms 22 are formed slightly to provide frictional pressm'e between the arms and the carriage side walls. A pair of parallel transversely extending rods 24 and 25, connected between arms 22 by screws such as 26, provide a support for a carbon paper clamp plate 23'. Plate 23 is pivotally mounted on rod 24 through flanges 21 that extend rearwardly from the plate and have bushings 2| embracing the rod. Weak springs such as 23 (Figure 2) connected between rod 23 and pins such as 33, fixed in the rear side of plate 26', tension the plate upwardly, causing flanges 21 to bear against rod 25. Collars, such as 3| (Figure 1), secured on rod 24 on the opposite sides of flange 21, prevent lateral displacement of the assembly. A pair of spaced spring clips 32, secured as by screws 33 on the front of plate 26', are arranged to securely hold the upper edge of the carbon paper 2| between the clip and the plate, the lower free end of the carbon extending downwardly and around the platen as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

By this construction, when the front feed bail is swungfrom open position (Figure 2) to closed position (Figure 1) causing pressure rolls 23 and the upper endsfof chutes 8 and 3 to press against the carbon paper,-;springs 29 yield to prevent the carbon from'jbeing torn.- This construction also holds"the-carbonftaut, so that a clear imprint may be,ma de.

It is customary, in present day practice, when using carbon paper, to advance the carbon sheet with the work form when the latter is line spaced, the same sheet of carbon being used over and over for successive work forms until the carbon ceases to give satisfactory impressions. With the present mechanism, however, the carbon is not advanced with the work form (the check) as the latter receives only one line of printing before being removed from the carriage. The carbon, therefore, is kept in one location for successive impressions, until it no longer gives a satisfactory impression. With this method it checks before it is necessary to advance the carbon, it then being necessary to advance itonly a distance equal to the height of the printed characters.

To advance the carbon in this manner, the operator merely pulls the front feed bail to forward position (Figure 2) and raises arms 22 a slight amount about rod 24. In order that the operator may gauge the amount of upward movement for this line change operation, a pair of outwardly formed nodes 23 are provided on the rear ends of arms 22 and are arranged to frictionally engage a series of corresponding apertures 34 spaced closely together and formed on an arc concentric with the axis 24" in each of the carriage side walls. In changing the line of writing, arms 22 are moved upwardly only an amount sufficient to move the nodes from the apertures in which they are engaged, to the next adjacent set of apertures. Inwardly disposed studs 35, secured in the carriage side walls at the extremities of apertures 34, define the extreme adjustments of arms 22.

Stops for aligning checks, record cards or short forms and the like As before stated, by having the check or short form inserted in back of the carbon, it is essential that a means be provided for limiting the downward insertion of such forms to align it properly with the printing point, since the presence of the carbon paper in front of the check prevents the operator from doing this visually. This mechanism includes a shaft 33 extending across the entire length of the carriage and supported at its opposite ends in the carriage side walls beneath platen 2. A pair of stops 33, spaced apart and secured to the shaft by screws such as 33 (Figure 2) have upstanding arms 43 which lie in the path of the lower edge of the inserted check or short form 4. When a check is to be inserted, the front feed chute is swung open (Figure 2) and the check is inserted behind the carbon 2| from either side thereof. The check is then passed downwardly between platen 2 and carbon 2|, its lower edge following the contour of the carbon and the ledger sheet about the platen until it abuts stops 38. By this means, the checks may .be rapidly and easily inserted and removed, each being brought into proper alignment with the platen to insure uniformity in printing.

As before mentioned, since the accounting machine is used also for types of work not involving check printing, and since the forms used in the other types of work are generally of greater length and width than the checks, the stops are adapted to be lowered to a position where they will not interfere with the insertion of these larger forms. To do this, shaft 36 is mounted loosely in the side walls, the left end of the shaft extending through the left side wall and carrying a. knob 31 for oscillating the shaft manually. To lower check stops 40 out of the path of the forms, it is only necessary for the operator to oscillate knob 31 a slight extent. An arm 42, secured on shaft 33 nearits right hand end, carries a stud 4| that cooperates with a spring detent 43 on the carriage side wall, to limitthe extent of oscillation that may be imparted'to shaft 33 by knob 31.

'In practice, the combination of this adjustable carbon paper holding device, with the stops for aligning short forms or checks, has been found to effect a considerable saving in carbon paper and operating time wher the users of the accounting machine desire to have their ledger or record sheets bear the original printing and the checks or short forms bear a carbon imprint,

While the form of mechanism herein shown and described is admirably adapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the one form of embodiment herein disclosed, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is: 4

1. In a carbon paper holding means for a paper carriage, arms pivoted on the carriage and connected by rods across their outer ends, a plate pivoted on one of said rods and springs connected between said plate and the other of said rods, said plate carrying a spring clip arranged to engage a sheet of carbon paper.

2. In a carbonpaper holding means for a paper carriage having a roller platen, arms pivoted on,

outer ends. a plate pivoted on one of said rods and yieldingly connected. to the other of said rods, spring clips on said plate for holding a sheet of carbon paper, and means whereby said arms may be adjusted to bring difierent portions of the carbon paper to the printing line.

3. In a paper carriage of the class described having a roller platen, means above the platen for holding a sheet of carbon paper the lower portion of which loosely encircles the platen, a front feed ball having means for directing paper downwardly in front of the carbon, and movable from an open to a closed position with respect to the platen, said bail in its closed position being arranged to engage and exert a longitudinal tension upon said carbon sheet and yielding means coacting with said holding means to allow the latter to move with the carbon sheet and prevent tearing thereof when the front feed bail is moved from open to closed position.

wAL'riER A. ANDERSON. 

